MPs urge emissions law

Setting a legally binding cut in carbon dioxide will strengthen the Government's resolve to achieve the target and provide much-needed investor confidence, an all-party group of MPs said.

The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, which has just carried out an inquiry into the draft Climate Change Bill said it backs its key aims.

They heard a great deal of evidence that the target to cut emissions should be higher than the 60% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050, which is proposed.

However, while the Committee recognised that this target is already "extremely ambitious" it recommends that one of the first tasks of the proposed new Committee on Climate Change, should be to assess it and recommend what it should be.

The MPs voiced fears about the cumulative effects of emissions, not just the mid and long-term reduction targets.

They want annual milestones set and published so that it becomes apparent well before the end of each five-year "budgetary period" (in which the Government sets a carbon dioxide "budget" for the UK) whether or not CO2 reduction policies are working.

The Bill must also avoid confusion in its language and use only the terms carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalent, when describing which emissions it is dealing with.

The MPs further recommend that the Government should publish a breakdown of its national emission reduction targets to help different sectors of the economy appreciate what action they will have to take.

Parliament should also play a greater role in monitoring emissions reduction performance, with regular debates in the House of Commons on the Government's responses to the annual progress reports of the Committee on Climate Change.

MPs call for the facility allowed in the bill to buy carbon credits from abroad to only be used as a last resort, so that the UK's credibility is not undermined on the international stage and other countries' own environmental efforts are not diminished.